Paramedics Rob Pritchard and Shawn Morash collect food at Save On Foods in the Hart   250News photo

Prince George, BC – Local paramedics will be out in force this weekend and next, collecting food for St Vincent de Paul's Christmas hamper program…

Now in its 7th year, Rob Pritchard says the annual 'Red and White Hunger Fight' is one of the most successful campaigns hosted by members of the BC Ambulance Service in the province.  "We've collected over $100-thousand dollars worth of groceries in six years."

Pritchard was involved in a similar effort that began in Victoria 20-years ago, and says it was something he had in the back of his mind when he moved to Prince George 15-years ago.  He connected with Shawn Morash and Jim Vanderploeg and, between the three of them, they launched the first local drive in 2006.

Pritchard says between 35 and 40 paramedics will be volunteering their time to collect food donations at local Save On stores during this year's drive, which started yesterday afternoon at the Hart location.  "We fill the ambulance to the roof full of food twice per shift," he says.  "We're hoping to do about 400 boxes of food from each store, so that's a lot of food."

While the bulk of donations will be used to fill St Vincent's holiday hampers, the residual will support the society's soup kitchen and weekly hamper program.

Today, ambulance will be flashing its lights for collection at Save On's Parkwood location between 10am and 3pm.  Next Friday night, paramedics will be at the Spruceland location between 3pm and 7pm, and College Heights between 10am and 3:30pm on Saturday, December 14th.